Chapter 285 The Crisis of the Great Zhou, Empress Mingqiong
In fact, for ordinary people, it doesn't matter who sits on the throne.
As long as they can live and work in peace and have a certain amount of room for improvement, this is enough.
Even if there is no change of emperor for hundreds of years, there is no problem.
This is the case with the Great Zhou Dynasty.
Under the rule of the empress, the Great Zhou Dynasty has become stronger every year than the previous year, whether it is the living standards of the people or the level of martial arts.
Now it is the 371st year of Zhifeng, and the Great Zhou is still developing rapidly.
The whole country is like a wave rushing into the sea, constantly moving forward, as if it will never stop.
Compared with two hundred years ago, the current Great Zhou Dynasty has achieved a lot of improvement.
The first is the land area.
Today, the Great Zhou Dynasty has occupied more than 50% of the land in Tianxu Realm. From mountains to plains, from land to ocean, all are the territory of the Great Zhou.
The only country in the entire Tianxu Realm that can barely compare with it is the Great Xia Kingdom.
However, the Great Xia Kingdom only occupies a little more than 30% of the land in Tianxu Realm, and its size is only a little more than half of that of the Great Zhou.
As for the remaining 10% of the land, there are hundreds of small countries, which serve as a buffer zone between the Great Xia and the Great Zhou, reducing the border line between the two superpowers.
Since the Great Xia and the Great Zhou have a long history, there will be almost no serious contradictions and conflicts. The two countries have their own means of domestic governance, and can both ensure harmony inside and outside.
Therefore, the past two hundred years can be said to be the most stable period in the history of Tianxu Realm, and there have been almost no major wars or conflicts.
If it weren't for the hundreds of small countries that often fought each other for a little profit, it is estimated that ordinary people would have no concept of war.
Another thing is the population size and the overall level of martial arts.
The current Great Zhou has a registered population of more than 15 billion, and martial arts education has been popularized. As long as you are an adult, you can reach the innate realm.
If you are more motivated, you can reach the inner realm or even the divine realm.
The best among them can even become human immortals and earth immortals. Even the unattainable realms of heavenly beings, heavenly immortals, and heavenly monarchs three hundred years ago, ordinary people often break through.
All this seems to mean that the Great Zhou will become stronger and stronger, and will move from one greatness to another, and will always be strong.
However, many knowledgeable people have seen the crisis hidden under this prosperity.
And it is a huge crisis!
That is the rapid expansion of population and the serious shortage of land in the future.
This is not only a crisis for Daxia or Dazhou, but also a crisis for the entire Tianxu Realm.
The people of Tianxu Realm have lived in a stable and affluent environment for a long time, and they have a very high desire to raise offspring. The improvement of the overall martial arts level has also brought about a significant increase in life expectancy.
An ordinary couple will probably have four or five children, or even more.
This makes the population in Tianxu Realm expand at a very fast rate.
The land is enough now, but in another hundred years, two hundred years, or even five hundred years, a thousand years...
that may not be the case.
...
Inside the palace of Dazhou, the empress's bedroom.
Li Wei came here hurriedly in her bright red official uniform, and then bowed very respectfully and said, "I, your Majesty, am here to see you."
She has already recovered her cultivation and has taken a step forward, successfully integrating all methods into one and entering the realm of a saint.
Although Li Wei is now over a thousand years old, her face is still youthful and beautiful.
However, in order to govern the country, she no longer looks like a girl, but a little more mature, looking like she is in her twenties.
In the court of the Great Zhou Dynasty, Li Wei is also Li Mingqiong's right-hand man.
For nearly 130 years, Li Wei has always been the prime minister, and many specific decrees have been implemented by her.
In fact, she is one of the most powerful people in the Great Zhou Dynasty besides Li Mingqiong.
However, Li Wei herself has always been very clear about her position.
She knows very well that she is just a close attendant of Her Majesty the Empress, and her goal is to perform well and strive to be taught by Her Majesty the method of cultivation that does not require immortality. She
is definitely not a powerful minister.
It is even more impossible for her to become the one who truly holds the power of the country.
Moreover, the Empress of the Great Zhou, Li Mingqiong, has occupied a very important position in Li Wei's heart.
She will do her best to assist and make the Great Zhou even greater.
"Well." Li Mingqiong's slightly lazy voice sounded from behind the screen.
Then she was seen walking out in a moon-white silk nightgown.
As a king of the saints, the past two hundred years have not brought any impact on her appearance. She is still beautiful and charming.
Of course, calling her the King of Saints is just an estimate.
In fact, she is not very clear about what realm she is in at the moment.
As the Great Zhou becomes stronger, Li Mingqiong's cultivation in the Way of National Destiny is constantly improving.
Under the nourishment of the power of national destiny, the Soul Golden Pill has already possessed extremely strong rationality, and her Niwan Palace has even turned into a golden ocean.
In terms of strength, she is extremely powerful, and a random thought can annihilate thousands of Wuji Jinxian on the spot.
Moreover, due to the particularity of the Way of National Destiny, she can appear anywhere in the Great Zhou at any time.
To a certain extent, this can even be called "omnipresent."
"Your Majesty, the population and national territory statistics that you ordered have been completed." Li Wei took out a jade slip very respectfully, held it in both hands and presented it to Li Mingqiong.
"Well done." Li Mingqiong smiled and nodded.
Then she waved her hand and the jade slip fell into her palm.
She saw the light flowing on it. She quickly read the information inside and her eyebrows wrinkled.
"The Tianxu Realm is still too small." Li Mingqiong sighed softly, "If there is no breakthrough in land and population, I am afraid it will be difficult for me to improve my cultivation in another hundred years."
The core of the way of national destiny is the strength of the country.
National strength is mainly affected by three points: the area of the country, the domestic population, and the domestic martial arts level.
In the past two hundred years, the national strength of the Great Zhou has developed rapidly, and Li Mingqiong's cultivation realm has naturally soared.
The growth of her cultivation realm can also feed back to the country, allowing domestic martial artists to practice with half the effort, thereby further enhancing the country's martial arts level.
This is a very benign cycle.
However, this mutually reinforcing cycle is limited. With her current cultivation realm, at most it can make the cultivation below the Xuanxian become faster.
When reaching the Xuanxian level, the speed of cultivation will naturally become slow.
This will cause the vast majority of people to stay in the realm below Xuanxian, and they are the main source of national strength growth.
But if there is no new population for a long time, there will be no new celestial beings, celestial beings, and celestial monarchs, and the growth of national strength will become extremely difficult.
According to the survey results presented by Li Wei, this situation will occur in another hundred years.
The core problem is that the land area is not enough to carry so many people.
By then, Li Mingqiong's realm cultivation will be almost stagnant.
"Your Majesty, can we swallow the lower realm?" Li Wei suggested. This is the only way she can think of.
The land of Tianxu Realm is limited, and the neighboring Daxia was founded by the descendants of the disciples of the Immortal Venerable. It is impossible for Dazhou to invade its land. Daozhou Star in the lower world is undoubtedly the best choice.
"No." Li Mingqiong shook his head lightly, "The Tianxu Realm and Daozhou Star can only communicate once every hundred years. If the territory is extended to the lower world, it will be irresponsible to the people in the lower world. Moreover, in that case, I can only stay on Daozhou Star and there will be no chance to leave."
"Leave?" Li Wei was a little surprised when she heard it.
"Well, now that things have come to this, I won't hide it from you." Li Mingqiong said in a deep voice, "In at least a hundred years, at most two hundred years, I should have a breakthrough, and by then my cultivation should have reached a bottleneck, unable to make any further progress.
"However, when that time comes, I should be able to use my magical powers, gather the power of national destiny, and take the entire Great Zhou with me. In this way, I can step into the starry sky to follow in the footsteps of my master."
"Take the entire Great Zhou with you?!" Li Wei's beautiful eyes widened, and she said in disbelief, "What kind of magical power is this, Your Majesty, what realm are you at?"
"I can't explain that clearly." Li Mingqiong shook his head lightly and sighed, "I'm afraid I have to wait until I see my master to know the road ahead. "
In fact, she also tried to explore the road ahead by herself, but in the absence of effective reference, it was too difficult to find a way out on her own.
Especially when exploring a path that is higher than her own realm.
This is almost impossible to accomplish.
Li Wei saw that Li Mingqiong was worried, and hurriedly said: "Is there anything I can do to help your majesty?"
"You can't help much." Li Mingqiong shook her head and smiled, "I can only work hard on my own for cultivation, or ask for advice..."
At this point, she suddenly paused, stared to the northeast with wide eyes, and said in surprise: "Cross-border passage, the cross-border passage between Tianxu Realm and Daozhou Star has been opened!"
"Cross-border passage? ! "Li Wei said in surprise, "Isn't it the time for the two to converge yet? How can there be a cross-border channel..."
She was stunned when she said this, with a look of surprise on her face.
The Tianxu Realm is essentially an alien space outside the Daozhou Star. It is not connected to the Daozhou Star all the time.
There is only a short period of convergence every hundred years.
Now that this convergence period has passed, it should be impossible to establish a channel between the two.
Unless one uses great magical powers to force the two to connect.
And there is only one person with such great magical powers in her knowledge.
"Is it the Immortal Venerable?" Li Wei said in surprise.
"It should be the Master, it should be the Master! "Li Mingqiong was also excited.
Then her figure shook, and the silk nightgown on her body instantly turned into a decent dress.
"Come with me to greet the master."
...
Cui Heng descended into the Tianxu Realm without deliberately concealing his breath.
As long as Li Mingqiong did not fall behind in his practice of the Way of National Destiny, he should be able to directly sense his arrival.
Therefore, as soon as he landed, he saw two rays of light flying from the southwest, at an extremely fast speed, and in the blink of an eye they arrived in front of him.
Li Mingqiong was the first to emerge from the light and bowed respectfully in front of Cui Heng, "Disciple greets the master!"
Li Wei followed closely and saluted very respectfully, saying, "Greetings to the Immortal Venerable!"
(End of this chapter)